howdy buns!! i apologize for being super inactive but i’m here to make a little announcement: i’m moving ambra over to my multimuse. it’s still under construction, but i’m slowly getting to bios & stuff. i still luv ambra with all my heart & want to continue writing her but i also don’t want to clutter my account with sideblogs that collect dust for weeks & months, so i’ll be deleting this blog when i’m done with everything. so please feel free to follow me there if you want to continue writing with her!! since it’s a sideblog it is connected to my main blog & i only really interact with people i’m mutuals with. because i wrote so many important headcanons for ambra, i’ll be moving all of those over there as well. edits & stuff that were made for me will also be reblogged there bc i don’t want to forget all the beautiful stuff i received. ; v; i hope to see you folks over there!!
howdy buns!! i apologize for being super inactive but i’m here to make a little announcement: i’m moving ambra over to my multimuse. it’s still under construction, but i’m slowly getting to bios & stuff. i still luv ambra with all my heart & want to continue writing her but i also don’t want to clutter my account with sideblogs that collect dust for weeks & months, so i’ll be deleting this blog when i’m done with everything. so please feel free to follow me there if you want to continue writing with her!! since it’s a sideblog it is connected to my main blog & i only really interact with people i’m mutuals with. because i wrote so many important headcanons for ambra, i’ll be moving all of those over there as well. edits & stuff that were made for me will also be reblogged there bc i don’t want to forget all the beautiful stuff i received. ; v; i hope to see you folks over there!!
“Do eat the purple snow. Make slushies! Whatever you want to do!”
❝ That is utterly, completely, absolutely VILE & you should be ashamed for even suggesting it. To think that the Lord Commander himself would advocate such deviant activities! ❞
“ As a reminder to the terminally curious, I’d suggest not eating, touching, or being in a five-light-year radius of any snow warped to an interesting shade of purple. You don’t know where it’s been.
“ But I do, and that happens to be the Void.
“ If you sprout another four limbs, you’ve no one else to blame but yourself. ”
LIGHT IN THE ABYSS
A look of utter & complete disgust contorts Ambra’s regal face, her dark lips curling downward & her red eyes narrowing. To think that there were some people stupid enough to meddle around with precipitation clearly out of the norm. Curiosity was one thing, but could nobody exercise some common sense? What happened that warranted this disclaimer from the Spymistress? The priestess’s metal fingers grip her staff tighter at the thought of someone sprouting extra limbs because of their foolishness.
❝ That is the most revolting thing I’ve heard all day. ❞
“ Word from Ghalt. It seems as though we’ll have Varelsi to contend with soon enough. I don’t intend to give them the option of getting that close. ” There’s much on her mind, and although Deande is one to absolutely adore formalities as much as the next Jennerit, she enjoys a fight even so. “ We can head them off. How do you feel about a boarding party? ”
LIGHT IN THE ABYSS
There is much on Ambra’s mind as well, having seen the simulation that Nova generated for Attikus in order to help him cope with the horrors of the Rebellion. She sits at the lone table her study, wires hooked up to the various ports on her body, looking over a cup of tea that remained untouched, becoming cold. Deande’s presence is a much welcomed one, for the high priestess did not mean to reflect on past events for this long. Her work, her people, her empire, her stars, always came first.
❝ I would not object to one. The Sisters will know what to do in my brief absence. ❞
Oscar Mike vs. The Battle School, the 3rd DLC Operation
The Winter Update
All very cool stuff but I am going to do a quick recap of what to expect from the Winter update for those who don’t know.
The Winter Update changes:
All 25 characters will be unlocked upon completion of the Prologue. New players don’t have to wait to find their Battleborn main any more.
Character Unlock Challenges reward with you with a special skin when they are completed so all your hard work is not for naught after the update.
Story mode will have more guides and tools to lead you through it. An excellent decision for new players who we were clueless as I was when I first picked up the game.
Credit rewards have been boosted in Story mode, giving players a head start in buying some sweet, sweet Loot Packs.
Two new training modes.
Incursion Tutorial: An area where you learn about the competitive side of Battleborn and learn to build your skills in PvP up while learning how the frickity-frack Incursion works.
Dojo: A training area where you can take each Battleborn character for a test drive! Study their helix, learn their skills, pay the bills!
User Interface changes which will streamline how the Command Center will look and the layout for everything else. I cannot wait for this. It’ll be beautiful.
Draft Mode: “This is one of the most exciting new additions! In Draft Mode, teams and players take turns picking and banning characters trying to find the perfect match-ups and counters for what the other team is choosing.”
Introducing Daily Quests! We complete a certain amount of things each day and we get rewarded for it. The perfect incentive to keep our addiction solid.
Command Rank now goes up to 150 and Character Rank now goes up to 20! Both promise new rewards which is exciting!
Credits will accumulate faster in PvP matches but those who leave the matches early get diddly squat.
Only one type of Loot Pack will be purchasable in the Marketplace. The Core Pack. Contains higher grade loot and is capable of dropping any skin or taunt found previously in Faction packs. All the other Loot Packs can still be found in Story Mode.
Boosters will have more variety in the Platinum section of the Marketplace.
PS4 Pro Support: “Battleborn will also support PS4 Pro! PS4 Pro players will be able to choose between 1080p at 60fps or 4K at 30fps.”
That covers everything they released to the public!
User Interface Changes: Battleborn’s user interface gets a major facelift. Cleaner, more vibrant, and much easier to find the information you need most. You’ll see UI changes throughout Battleborn, from the starting screen, to the Command center, character select, and even some menu changes.
Draft Mode: This is one of the most exciting new additions! In Draft Mode, teams and players take turns picking and banning characters trying to find the perfect match-ups and counters for what the other team is choosing.
Introducing Daily Quests: The action doesn’t end when you take down Rendain. Check back daily for new objectives and rewards across both Story Mode and Competitive Multiplayer Mode.
Command Rank and Character Rank Increase: Keep on growing your Command and Character ranks! We pushed the cap to 150 for Command Rank, and rank 20 for each character, with all-new rewards!
Updated In-game Economy: We’ve overhauled the Credits system and how loot packs are made available, particularly in Competitive Multiplayer matches. Credits will now accumulate faster in public PVP matches, making it easier to grab more loot packs from the Marketplace. But not for leavers – they are out of luck and will not receive any rewards. You see, nobody likes a quitter.
PS4 Pro Support: Battleborn will also support PS4 Pro! PS4 players will be able to choose between 1080p at 60fps or 4K at 30fps.
Loot Packs: All loot pack variations will still drop in Story Mode missions, but only one type of loot pack will be available in the Marketplace: The Core Pack. The Core Pack has better odds for higher rarity gear and has a chance to drop any skin or taunt previously available in Faction packs.
Boosts: A bigger variety of Boosts will become available for Platinum in the marketplace.
Howdy. Let’s talk about the lore in Battleplan #21 & Battleplan #23. I honestly wasn’t expecting Gearbox to release this much lore about Ambra & the Silent Sisters as they prepared to release the October Update, so all of this comes as a very pleasant surprise. Even though this is about the lore in the Battleplan posts made by Gearbox, I have played the DLC a few times so I may slip a few details into here. Please be sure that you have “battleborn spoilers //” blacklisted & everything from Battleplan #23 will be under a cut until most people have had a chance to play the dlc.
Let’s get ramblin’.
BATTLEPLAN #21
Battleplan #21 discusses the origins of the Order of the Sustaining Mother & says in more explicit detail about Galilea’s betrayal & the aftermath. She was a deep cover operative for the Arbiters of Being & spent fifteen years undercover amongst Jennerit society, working her way up through the Silent Sisters to become a Templar. During that time, she became friends with Ambra & gained her sponsorship. Three years after gaining the title of Templar, Galilea failed her mission to destroy the Sustainment Engine & her friendship with Ambra crumbled. I think this is a really important thing to remember about Ambra & Galilea’s friendship. It is this broken thing that can never really be put back together. Galilea’s betrayal really, really hurt Ambra. It hurt her so much that she is still incredibly angry about it all these years later. More importantly, it changed her.
Ambra, more leery than ever of splitting her loyalties, redoubled her zealotry. She became even more guarded, pious, and intolerant, and spent the next several hundred years fiercely curating the Sustainment process, the Order of the Sustaining Mother, and propriety among all of the highborn within the Empire.
We're never given any details about the hierarchy within the Silent Sisters aside from what could be implied in her lore challenges, but I think this proves that the Sun Priestess is synonymous with the position of High Priestess or even Pontiff. To be able to control the Sustainment process, the entire Order of the Sustaining Mother, and the rules of behavior among Jennerit highborn means that Ambra has enormous political & social power. To curate the Sustainment process further indicates the kind of influence & power she has. But let’s not think that prior to Galilea’s betrayal, Ambra wasn’t a pious woman. She is a Silent Sister, a member of the religious institution of the Jennerit state. She has always been & always will be a very religious woman.
This also demonstrates just how much Galilea’s betrayal hurt Ambra & made her more paranoid. “She became even more guarded, pious, & intolerant” is a very interesting statement about the changes Ambra went through personally after what happened. Ambra let her guard down once & became friends with the woman that would try to destroy the very thing that make the Jennerit great. I can imagine Ambra becoming paranoid, which ties in with her intolerance, trying to not only shape younger Jennerit girls, but also keeping a close eye on everyone around her. What Galilea did to her cut so deep that Ambra vowed to never allow that to happen again. Becoming even more pious means that Ambra became even more religious. She probably prayed more often.
Galilea & Ambra may have been friends, but I will say that nobody knows Ambra better than Deande because she is the product of Ambra’s teachings & Empress Lenore’s instructions. Deande has seen Ambra at her best & at her worst.
In regards to Rendain’s coup & the transformation of the Jennerit Empire into the Jennerit Imperium:
At first, Ambra expressed her objections within formal channels, using political discourse and rhetoric to call the self-appointed “Lord Commander” to task. Ambra’s conflict with Rendain escalated, however, after Rendain breached protocol (and Ambra’s personal rules of etiquette) by bringing his dog, Constable Cuddles, to a formal political meeting.
I think this is incredibly important because it shows that Ambra has continuously opposed Rendain’s coup & leadership. Also, Ambra using formal channels in order to call him out is true to who she is as a person, as the Sun Priestess, & as a highborne Jennerit woman. Using political discourse & rhetoric shows that Ambra knows how to work the Jennerit political system. Also, she’s using it in defiance of Rendain who has been targeting Ambra’s division of the Silent Sisters because he sees them as a threat to his rule. She retaliates against him using the outlets she knows she’ll be heard. Of course, the incident with Constable Cuddles forces her to take extra measures & that is by going in front of the entire Jennerit court to call him out.
Soon after, Ambra began taking more direct and insurgent actions. She was contacted secretly by Spymistress Deande (also engaged in the seeds of rebellion) and used her influence as a Silent Sister to stir unrest within various groups of the Imperium. Eventually, Ambra’s participation in the Jennerit rebellions grew too bold to maintain her façade, and she fled the Imperium with the aid of the newly liberated political prisoner known as Caldarius.
This is so IMPORTANT. Not only did Ambra call out Rendain in front of the entire Jennerit court, but she was also instrumental in starting the Third Thrall Rebellion. It shows that Deande wasn’t working alone in starting it either, she knew that Ambra could be enormous in starting it because of her position within the Silent Sisters.
Of course, she has many reasons for doing this besides her conflict with Rendain, though that is certainly a major reason. In the new DLC, Attikus mentions that Ambra was sympathetic to the Thralls. But she also knows that the Imperium relies heavily on the Thrall labor force & getting them to revolt would cause a major upset.
The other reasons is because of Sister Aria.
BATTLEPLAN #23
Battleplan #23 is an email conversation between Ambra & Ghalt. Concerned about Attikus locking himself in the simulation chamber, Ghalt asks Ambra if she can do something about it. We learn that Attikus has been reliving the Third Thrall Rebellion. He constantly references a “Sister Aria”, which leads Ghalt to Ambra considering her status as a Silent Sister. It is here that we learn that Aria is not only the Incantress Superior of the Order of the Sustaining Mother, but is also Ambra’s biological sister.
Ghalt doesn’t understand why Ambra wouldn’t have mentioned her before. To which Ambra explains:
“Family” is too warm a word for Aria. We haven’t been close for eleven thousand years, not since…the incident. I didn’t think my personal rivalry was germane to our objectives. And I feel I should hardly need remind you that EVERY Silent Sister is dangerous. But yes, Aria especially. She wears that GARISH modified assault frame, and is a practiced hand at pacifying Thrall. During the rebellions, we emphasized non-lethal suppression tactics. Standard procedure was to just drop shock anchors until they calmed down.
A couple of things to unpack.
First, it appears that the Silent Sisters have two sections: science & military. Ambra, being the Sun Priestess, is clearly the head of the science & religious division, focusing mostly the Sustainment process & Sustainment technology. They are also very close to Empress Lenore, having sworn oaths directly to her. Given Ambra’s position, she would have worked very closely with the Empress as well, probably even knew her on a personal level. Aria, being the Incantress Superior, appears to be the head of the military division of the Silent Sisters. In her dialogue with Deande, it’s clear that the military side of the Silent Sisters works very closely with Rendain, given that he is the head of the Jennerit military. Also just the way she looks is more militarized with the assault frame she has on. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that when Rendain’s coup happened, the military & science sections of the Silent Sisters split further apart.
Secondly, Aria & Ambra’s relationship is not good. Though Ambra is strict & pious, she does know how to empathize. She cares deeply about her people, her fellow Sisters, Deande, & Empress Lenore. Ambra can be very motherly to those she cares deeply about. It’s important to remember that she has also been traumatized by Galilea’s betrayal, Lenore’s death, & the diminishing of the Silent Sisters’ power by Rendain. I wouldn’t call Ambra sadistic, but I will say that a lot of her mad laughter & screaming comes from her trauma & her anger. Aria, on the other hand, is SADISTIC. Deande even calls her that in their dialogue. Aria is fanatic & proposed several times to mass killing the rebel Thralls. Aria also drowned Ambra’s puppy when they were children. ( Which may or may not contribute to her dislike of Constable Cuddles, but it certainly contributes to some of her trauma. ) To say that they have a rivalry is an understatement. Ambra REALLY does not like her own sister. Also, had Aria not been killed by Attikus, Aria would have killed Deande & undone everything she did to keep the Thralls safe. It’s also safe to assume that Aria would have further diminished Ambra’s division of the Silent Sisters or even killed her for her part in the rebellion as well.
The other thing is that Ambra mentioned that every Silent Sisters is dangerous. They aren’t just clerics & scientists, they’re also warriors. Though the military division specializes just in fighting, Ambra is fierce on the battlefield & her powers are devastating. It’s safe to say that other Matrons & Sisters even within her division are just as deadly & just as terrifying. Also, the emphasis on non-lethal methods of suppression is interesting & falls in line with how Ambra acts in Another Million & We’re Even. Though what the Jennerit consider “non-lethal” is not very non-lethal, but the push for such measures might have been a joint effort by her & Deande to counter the methods that Aria was proposing, which was just straight up genocidal killing. It’s interesting side of Ambra, trying to balance her own morals with what needs to be done in order to salvage what’s left of the Jennerit Imperium from Rendain & the Varelsi.
